Association between Elevated Urine Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin and Postoperative Acute Kidney Injury in Neonates

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Brenda Poindexter, Emory University; Cara L Slagle, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine; Stuart L Goldstein, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Hailey W Gavigan, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; James A Rowe, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Kelli A Krallman, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Heather C Kaplan, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine; Chunyan Liu, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Shelley R Ehrlich, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Meera Kotagal, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine; Alexander J Bondoc, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-11-01
• Publisher: Elsevier Inc
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.07.041
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Pediatrics
• Volume: 238
• Start Page: 193
• End Page: 201.e2
• Grant/Funding Information: Funding support provided by NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (P50 DL096418 [PI: Prasad Devarajan]) and The Little Giraffe Foundation (to C.S.). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
• Keywords: Biomarkers; Risk Factors; Infant; Hospital Mortality; Lipocalin-2; Humans; Female; Postoperative Period; Male; Prospective Studies; Acute Kidney Injury; Surgical Procedures, Operative

Abstract

Objective: To examine the incidence of postoperative neonatal acute kidney injury (AKI) following general surgical procedures and to test the hypothesis that postoperative urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) concentrations predict AKI. The secondary objective was to evaluate for an association between AKI and hospital mortality. Study design: Prospective observational study of infants undergoing abdominal and thoracic surgical procedures in the neonatal intensive care unit from October 2018 to March 2020. The primary outcome was incidence of neonatal AKI (defined by the neonatal modified Kidney Diseases Improving Global Outcomes criteria) following each procedure to postoperative day 5. Severe AKI was defined as stage 2 or 3 AKI. Urine samples were obtained pre- and postoperatively at 6 time points to evaluate for levels of uNGAL. Secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and length of stay. Results: Subjects (n = 141) underwent a total of 192 general surgical procedures during the study period. Neonatal AKI and severe AKI occurred following 36 (18%) and 15 (8%) procedures (n = 33 subjects). Percent change of uNGAL from 24 hours preoperatively to 24 hours postoperatively was greater in subjects with neonatal AKI (190.2% [IQR 0.0, 1666.7%] vs 0.7% [IQR -31.2%,140.2%], P = .0374). The strongest association of uNGAL and AKI occurred at 24 hours postoperatively (area under the receiver operator curves of 0.81, 95% CI 0.72, 0.89). Increased mortality risk was observed in subjects with any postoperative AKI (aOR 11.1 95% CI 2.0, 62.8, P = .0063) and severe AKI (aOR 13.8; 95% CI 3.0, 63.1, P = .0007). Conclusion: Elevation in uNGAL 24 hours postoperative was associated with AKI. Neonates with postoperative AKI had increased mortality.